


Dance With Me?

by Monster Merlin (ScribeAzari)



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Steven Universe References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-22 21:30:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17670461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScribeAzari/pseuds/Monster%20Merlin
Summary: In the spot where it all began, the fallen and the fading come together in dance.





	Dance With Me?

Footsteps clattering gently but swiftly on stone, approaching. Wasn’t this something that had happened before? It felt as though he had only just seen them off, but here they came again. Didn’t they have anything better to do?

A familiar form drew near to him by the flowerbed of beginnings and endings, where he had met someone he had grown to love, and where they had been laid to rest. Where the one he had mistaken for that lost sibling had fallen like an echo. Could he do this again? He didn’t want to act so distant, not with  _ Frisk, _ but he knew he didn’t have long. Better that they left and never saw what he would become again, in his opinion.

“Why did you come back? I’m sure I just talked to you.“ He managed, not sure whether he could take the guilt and all those other messy emotions if Frisk kept coming back to this one moment he knew he had no future beyond. Not as himself, anyway, which was even worse than falling to nothing but dust.

“I learned something that gave me an idea.” Their reply was soft, hesitant but determined. “I know you don’t have long, but - but if there’s  _ any _ chance - any hope - I gotta try. I know you want me to move on, but… it’d eat me alive inside if - if I just  _ left _ you! Please, will... will you let me try something?”

Their voice was trembling. Why did they have to care so much about someone like him? Maybe they were as strange as monsters could be that way. He didn’t want to watch them struggle and fail, or risk them having to see him lose himself, but… it was hard to deny them this, after they’d helped him to at least get to be himself again for a little while. After all they’d done to help those he’d spent so long toying with.

“Okay, I guess, but only if you  _ promise _ you won’t bring us back to now to try over and over. I mean it, Frisk - that would hurt too much, for both of us.” It was a wonder that his own voice was as level as it was, with the floods of unaccustomed  _ feeling _ rampaging in his mind.

Frisk pondered solemnly for a moment, weighing up their options, before opening their mouth to speak again. “Sans told me he’d be…  _ okay _ with me - with me giving it three shots if you were, but no more. Is - is that okay? I swear I’ll drop it if this doesn’t work - or, um, if you want to stop - but… but even then, at - at least it would be a better way to… to say goodbye than just…  _ leaving..." _

He was struck dumb, his fingers cold and trembling as his mind fizzed and bubbled. “You  _ TOLD?!” _ He yelped, alarmed. Sans - of all people,  _ Sans... _ At least it hadn’t been his parents, but…

“He… already knew.” Okay, that was terrifying, and it was only the memory that his time was short that saw him able to pull himself together. ‘Smiley’ had always seemed to know too much, so maybe he should have seen this one coming, but he’d thought he’d at least be able to keep  _ that _ secret under wraps.

Breathing as deeply and slowly as his mother had once taught him and Chara, he gathered himself. “Do you swear on your soul you won’t keep repeating, once you’ve tried three times?” He couldn’t stop them, he knew he couldn’t - but if they were determined to keep their word, maybe  _ they _ could stop themself? They’d been trustworthy this long… They nodded, hand over heart, and he sighed, feeling the release of a tension that had felt like a compressed spring about to snap.

“Okay, what’s your idea?” He asked, curious in spite of himself. They smiled warmly, as though his agreement had filled them with hope, and asked him to dance with them. Having lived as a prince, he knew how to dance better than they did, but he was none the wiser as to what this was supposed to do. Still, it could be something fun that could help them feel better about this, so he took their hand and led them into a careful, simple waltz in the small space beneath the hole, around the flowers.

It was awkward at first, and Frisk was kind of a beginner, but that didn’t stop either of them from enjoying the moment. Perhaps this wouldn’t be such a bad way to say goodbye - and it reminded him of better times, helping another novice learn the steps. It was lovely, in a bittersweet kind of way, but he ended up having to warn them to leave - he didn’t want them to see Flowey.

They returned to the moment, asking if he was okay with dancing some more, and he remembered. This was actually quite nice, and he felt like he was achieving something that would last beyond himself, teaching Frisk a little of what he knew. It took longer for his form to begin to destabilise this time, though he honestly couldn’t say why - and again Frisk left for the past before he could lose himself entirely.

This time, it was Asriel who offered to dance, finding that he was enjoying himself more than he’d thought could be possible so soon to Flowey’s resurgence - he wanted to make the most of this while it lasted, as whole-heartedly as someone running on left over radiance from the souls of others could.

He gave in to the dance, to the laughter and buoyancy of the moment, reassured by Frisk’s promise and the warmth he could feel. It almost felt as though he was whole. As they spun, Frisk’s soul began to shine, illuminating them - and coaxing out a faint rainbow corona outlining where Asriel’s would have been.

Both sets of eyes widened in awe, even as the light grew brighter still. Their bodies began to glow brightly white, and leap to embrace and merge with one another as though suddenly agile liquids. They could feel themselves becoming part of one another, their emotions meeting and mingling, understanding willingly passed from one to the other.

When the light dimmed, only one form remained, taller than either who had twirled there before. The satyr laughed, their voice filled with incredulous joy and relief - and amazement at their own existence. Holding up their arms to the light, they examined the soft coating of fuzz there, eager to discover themself.

Their fur was short and soft, especially on their upper body - oh, and they could feel little horn nubs on their head! Asriel had been waiting for those! Butterscotch splashes met white, wherever they looked - it seemed as though their colours had not mingled evenly, dappling them. Most of their hair was as dark as Frisk remembered, but even this was not exempt from the snowy flashes. Even their clothes seemed to have combined - their stripes were salmon now, upon pale celadon green, and their trousers were somewhat navy in hue.  
  
What had they become? The part of them that was Asriel couldn’t help but wonder, past the exhilarated jubilation, whether  _ this _ was the root from which what he and Chara had tried to do had sprung. Who were they now? Were they one person? Two people? Three, even? They really couldn’t say for certain, but that hardly seemed to matter. Stood there, so full of hope and elation and  _ oneness, _ they were enveloped in a warming, reassuring closeness that felt like the idea of a hug. That, and the knowledge that as long as they stayed together like this, nobody was going to be left behind.


End file.
